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Vegan kale & beetroot salad with caramelized almonds

This dish is the bomb! I made it for dinner tonight and wish I had a second stomach to finish the whole batch. It is super quick and easy to make and the kale and beetroot is packed with nutrients. The flavour combination absolutely melts in your mouth – the bitterness and saltiness of the prepped kale with the sweetness and crunchiness of the caramelized toasted almonds…YUM! I bought beautiful organic curly kale at the Wellness Warehouse in Kloof Street, but you can get (probably non-organic) bunches at Fruit & Veg Food Lover’s Market as well. It is quite inexpensive – between R7.99 and R11.99 for a bunch or a bag. I prefer using curly kale to flat leaf kale though. The trick to this salad is to cook the beetroot before the time and refrigerating – then the salad goes really quickly!

Serves: two as a main dish or 4 as a side dish

– Delicious and nutritious dinner in 5 easy steps!

INGREDIENTS:

5 – 6 small beetroots

70g of curly kale (half a packet)

1x corn on the cob

½ cup raw, unsalted almonds

1x teaspoon Olive oil

1x teaspoon lemon Juice

Maple syrup

Salt & pepper

INSTRUCTIONS:

Cook the beetroots and set aside to cool – you can pop them into the refrigerator. When cooled, peel the beetroots and cut them into squares. Set aside until later.

Wash off the kale in cold, salted water and pat dry with a kitchen cloth. Tear the leaves off the stalks and discard the stalks. Tear the kale leaves into smaller pieces and place it in a mixing bowl. Add the extra virgin olive oil, splash of lemon juice and salt and pepper to the kale. Mix the ingredients with your (clean) hands and massage the kale leaves with the other ingredients for a minute or two. This will help for the flavours to absorb into the bitter kale leaves. Set aside until later.

Roast the almonds in a non-stick pan for a few seconds (without any oil). Add a squirt of maple syrup to the toasted almonds and use a spatula to cover the almonds in the syrup. Remove the maple-covered almonds from the pan and place on a piece baking sheet (the glossy side of the baking sheet should be facing up). Separate the almonds so that they won’t stick to each other when they harden. Be careful – the syrup is VERY hot! When the almonds have hardened, chop them into small pieces and set aside.

Remove the corn from the cob with a knife (just cut it off from top to bottom) and set aside.

Add the beetroot squares, chopped maple-covered almonds and corn kernels to the kale in the mixing bowl and mix through thoroughly. Serve the salad cold with a few coated-almond pieces as garnish on top.